Classical Sheet Music for String Musicians

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Josquin des Prez

Josquin des Prez (often referred to simply as Josquin) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance widely considered by music scholars to be the first master of the high Renaissance style of polyphonic vocal music which began emerging during his lifetime.

During the 16th century, Josquin gradually acquired the reputation as the greatest composer of the age. He possessed a mastery of technique and expression which was universally imitated and admired. Writers as diverse as Baldassare Castiglione and Martin Luther wrote about his reputation and fame; theorists such as Heinrich Glarean and Gioseffo Zarlino held his style as that best representing perfection. He was so admired that many anonymous compositions (at least 374 works) were attributed to him by copyists, likely in an effort to increase their sales.

Josquin wrote in all of the important forms current at the time, including masses, motets, chansons, and frottole. He even contributed to the development of a new form, the motet-chanson, of which he left at least three examples. In addition, some of his pieces were probably intended for instrumental performance.

At Ovation Press, our editors have worked to translate the intricate beauty of works such as El Grillo and Mille Regretz to the medium of string instruments.